Pricing Job for Mosaic Tiling

[Bhoystris]

Can anyone tell me the going rate for tiling Mosaic Tiles? Seems to me there is alot more work involved, especially if its a full bathroom floor to ceiling job with alot of cutting around window, furniture bath etc. Im currently doing a job with tumbled marble mosaic tiles 2"sq and it is taking me alot more time than expected due to the number of tiles to be cut. Has anyone had a similar experience?

 

[Leatherface]

At least £40 per metre, or £45 if you can get away with it. As you know the natural suff all has to be treated. Also the gouting takes longer & uses more grout

 

[Concept PHT]

Thats the same price here too 🙂

 

[Bhoystris]

Oh dear looks like im doing this job for 1/2 price as i already quoted at £20/metre. Thanks for the info lads, i'll keep that in mind next time im doing one of these time sapping jobs.

 

[Dan]

I'd agree. Ceramics of a decent size, about £20-£25, slates and mosaics and diamond tiling in any type of tile, about £40 upwards. My price is plus materials if it's a word of mouth customer, if it's a case of fighting for the job then maybe inclusive on the odd job the profit allows you to do include. Sell your skill and technical ability and ensure the customer that your job is guaranteed and that will kill off a few of the other quotes you're competing with maybe?

 

[Leatherface]

Dear Bhoystris
bad luck mate.
A friendly word of advice, at first when you are starting off you can expect to do jobs cheap for the experience, but there has to be a cut off point. Iknow that there are many tilers out there who will always undercut you, there always will be. But you have to aim high, or you might as well go get a job somewhere else. You want to earn a living - not a wage.
I price myself on square meterage or AT LEAST £150 PER DAY plus materials - more if I can get away with - the best I ever did was a 22 sqm floor , onto plywood, tumbled marble - priced at £45.00 per metre - Had it all down in a day ( 12 hrs ) , one coat of treatment. One coat next day & grout in evening. £990 CASH - only used 4 bags of adhesive & 4 bags grout so materials about £110.
Aim high - if you get known as cheap, you will stay cheap. Take a risk & see what happens. I'm not talking about ripping anyone off. Just a right price for a right job.
Regards

 

[Concept PHT]

Again, couldn't agree with you more there Stella. Thats how I like to work, and get the job perfect instead of cutting corners to cut costs.

Its like the old saying goes - 'You get what you pay for....'

🙂

 

[tafkap68]

I'm half tiling a bathroom in ceramic mosaic at the moment, first time attempt.
I'm doing it for a mate and as he's in the decorating game I offered to do the job for £200 on the proviso that he recommends me to colleagues and customers. Trouble is I quoted him the price for 150x150 tiles. I arrived on Monday and he'd been out and bought mosaics instead.
Anyway, the upshot of this is that he's seen what's involved and checked with guys that he knows in the trade and he's offered to double the original quote without me even asking. Still paying below the odds for the job but I was doing it cheap anyway. I'm finding the job a bit of a pain at times but it's all experience and I'll know how much to charge etc next time

Btw, anyone on here got any advice/tips for mosaic (apart from DON'T DO IT!)

 

[trevortine]

try and do as much blocking out so that there are no cuts, mosaics are a pain to cut specially if they are glass and theres a lot of them. Dont use any old adhesive, use bal mosaic fix, formulated specially for the job. I recently done a 55 m2 bathroom in glass mosaic, took 7 long days!

 

[Leatherface]

I alyawys set out, then start from the top downwards. Ifind it a lot easier. They hang better & are easier to position.

 

[Leatherface]

Here's one I did a couple of months ago - wet room floor.
The wall tiles were already on, just had to remove bottom course & tie in - so don't blame me for the nasty sliver cut on lhs.
Regards

 

[GazLC81]

I am trying to quote a kitchen wall for ceramic mosaics, not sure what to charge but going off what you guys have said I am getting to around £130 including mats, does this sound cheap?

Also I am quoting a bathroom wall, it's about 11.5m2 and I am getting a price of £200 for labour, £45 for tanking, and allowing £50 to prep the wall if it doesn't need plastering. (12x8 ceramics)

So £295 all in. Plus if i'm removing the old tiles i will just quote a day rate.

Does this sound right?
Let me know asap chaps,

Thanks a lot!
Gaz

 

[Varley]

If the £200 is just your labour costs and you will add materials on I would say it's about right mate, Just under £20m2, good price!

 

[GazLC81]

Cheers matey, i'll get used to pricing when I've done a few i'm sure, just worry i'll over or under price dramatically and either not get the work or wish I hadn't!!

What do you reckon to the mosaic price?

 

[guy1976]

i would do a kitchen splashback in ceramics for £140 should only take a day but for mosaics it would be about £280 plus materials as it will take longer

 

[Varley]

I would up it a little for mosaics, that would be around my price for a one day kitchen splashback with ordinary ceramics, mosaics are a bit more fiddly. Totally up to yourself and what you feel comfortable with generally, but I always charge more for mosaics.

 

[GazLC81]

Thanks for the advice chaps, any tips on getting the mosiacs spot on?

 

[guy1976]

tell the customer you can only get the tiles as smooth as the walls they are going on

 

[GazLC81]

tell the customer you can only get the tiles as smooth as the walls they are going on

Yeah good point!

Think i may have underpriced this one! If i get it i'll just have to do it and put it down as experience!

He had one guy out and he said he can't do mosaics. Someone pretty experienced i would gues as he has been advertising for a while.

Is it really that much more difficult? It not rocket science is it? 🙁

 

[Varley]

It's not more difficult, just more fiddly and time consuming, some can be awkward to cut, require regular cleaning to make sure no adhesive is pushing through, you'll soon see :wink_smile:

 

[tjsmiler]

I always put £100 on for tanking minimum..... tanking is a great earner mate...... £150 day rate even if you are only there half a day. Mosaics £250 a day minimum, but hey that's just me lol

TJ

 

[Fekin]

My first tiling job was mosaics in my kitchen, their not difficult to do, just as everyone else has said more time consuming really.

One good tip that someone on here once said, if you're going to be doing mosaics a bit in the large tile format it is useful to have or make up a flat square wooden board, say 30cm x 30cm, attach on a cut to size piece of carpet or similar as a cussion and stick a handle on the back to use to flattern out the mosaic tiles level.
Nothing like trying to apply even pressure on large floppy mosaics using your hands and trying to get them even.
Cutting them on a wetcutter or even snips I find easy to do, but the longest part is just cleaning the adhesive away from the millions of grout lines that come seeping through if you press on too firmly.

So really, charge more for mosaics mainly for the labour of cleaning them up and grouting than anything.

 

[devonmark]

My first tiling job was mosaics in my kitchen, their not difficult to do, just as everyone else has said more time consuming really.

One good tip that someone on here once said, if you're going to be doing mosaics a bit in the large tile format it is useful to have or make up a flat square wooden board, say 30cm x 30cm, attach on a cut to size piece of carpet or similar as a cussion and stick a handle on the back to use to flattern out the mosaic tiles level.
Nothing like trying to apply even pressure on large floppy mosaics using your hands and trying to get them even.
Cutting them on a wetcutter or even snips I find easy to do, but the longest part is just cleaning the adhesive away from the millions of grout lines that come seeping through if you press on too firmly.

So really, charge more for mosaics mainly for the labour of cleaning them up and grouting than anything.

nice bit of advice..

 

[hetty]

Great thread about pricing here - with regard to mosaics there are some great books explaining the indirect method which make applying mosaics to walls somewhat easier - pasting the tesserae upside down on brown paper first, allow to dry, and then pushing them onto the adhesive - wet paper to remove it then grout. Something like that - am new to this so haven't actually tried it yet. Yes, mosaics are time consuming but the effects stunning.
----
Sorry, 'grandmother' and 'suck eggs' come to mind - you lot know more than me.

 

[clarke]

Mosaics are ok as long as you dont try to blast them up like regular tiles. I would go at least £150 a day plus the materials, or around £40-£50 per metre. Recently did a fully tiled bathroom (21m) in 15mm glass mosaics, took ages but looked good at the end, the key to adhesive trouble is to use BAL Mosaic Fix and a proper mosaic trowel as the notches are shallow so the sticky wont squeeze through the joints. Definately set out carefully to minimize cuts coz they take ages! I always use a spare grout float to pat them onto the adhesive to get them all nice and level too.

 

[GazTech]

Mosaics are ok as long as you dont try to blast them up like regular tiles. I would go at least £150 a day plus the materials, or around £40-£50 per metre. Recently did a fully tiled bathroom (21m) in 15mm glass mosaics, took ages but looked good at the end, the key to adhesive trouble is to use BAL Mosaic Fix and a proper mosaic trowel as the notches are shallow so the sticky wont squeeze through the joints. Definately set out carefully to minimize cuts coz they take ages! I always use a spare grout float to pat them onto the adhesive to get them all nice and level too.

Your an old hand there Clarky:wink_smile: good advice to all and the best possible way to do the job

 

[DHTiling]

spot on clarky mate.................................🙂

 

[felix]

I've just quoted for 300 x 300 natural stone mosaic. Its for a kitchen and its 34 sq m in total. I've priced it at £1400 which works out at £40 per sq m including materials. I'm hoping to clear £1000 after costs. Do I have any chance doing that. It's my first mosaic job and it was only covered briefly in my course, so I'm a little nervous. It looks like setting out is going to be really important because there is going to be loads of cuts. 3 box sections and loads of little alcoves etc. Hoping to do the job in six days

 

[grumpygrouter]

Is that a misprint Felix 300x300 should that be 30x30? or is that the full sheet size?

 

[felix]

Sorry full sheet is 300 x 300. Mosaic is 98 x 48

 

[grumpygrouter]

I have just done a job with 50mm mosaics on a 300x300 sheet in a kitchen, about 2.5m2 and I billed the builder £250 plus edge trim costs, grout and Silicon. He supplied adhesive (BAL Grip). Cuts around window, extractor and 6 sockets etc.

Payment on it's way to me!:wink_smile: